Impacts of the 20th Century Wars on UK's Housing Stock

Abstract

UK emerged from the 20th Century wars with different housing needs, which accelerated the divergence of attitudes and policies of social housing. The wars resulted to a decline in housing production for most of the decades, which fell further during the war itself. By 1918, there was a severe shortage of housing in the UK that private enterprise could not tackle effectively for economic reasons, and which the state could not ignore, at least for political reasons.

The severe shortage of housing in the UK after the wars, in addition to the fears of social unrest and privately renting as a predominant ownership in cases where landlords exploited their advantages, led to the imposition of rent controls, as well as expansion of social housing by the local authority. Housing in UK is categorized with regards to occupancy. The local housing authority, owner occupancy, social landlords who are registered, as well as the stock transfers and housing associations, and private rented housing makeup the major tenures of the social housing in UK. Significant alterations have taken place in the ownership since the beginning of 20th Century; for instance, the private renting turned down from 90 percent to less than 10 percent. The decade prior to 1914 realized a severe decline in the intensity of housing construction, and new house fell still further all through the combat itself. The changes also saw citizens of low income concentrating on public rented accommodations. The outcome was a serious housing shortage by 1918, which for monetary reasons private endeavor could not effectively tackle, particularly in the short run, which for political reasons the state could not ignore.

Private rented housing decreased proportionately during the 1919 period due to the expansion of local authority housing and owner occupation, which took a great part of the marketplace. Buying rather than renting a house was economical since the 1920s as the capital prices were been dictated by sale to owner occupiers. The paper will primarily focus on social housing in UK and how the 20th Century wars have impacted its housing stock, and at selected points draw upon the experiences in elucidating issues and draw mutual lessons. The paper will emphasize on ownership and tenure, financing and participation, as well as affordability.